One of the suggestions Greg had was tracking calories. I have had many a friend ask me what they can do to get fit and lose weight, and I almost always reply with “running and calorie tracking”.

You may have heard of and rolled your eyes at the concept of calorie tracking, thinking, “I’m not going to be one of those people who counts calories”.

If you are, I want you to stop for a second and reread what it is I suggest and what it is you say you don’t want to be.

Go ahead…

Go back and read my reply and now read your response.

There is a difference, albeit one based on semantics. What you call “counting calories” I call “tracking calories”.

I believe there actually is a huge difference between the two.

What’s the difference, you ask?

If you are counting calories, that implies you are keeping an eye on a certain number that you are allowing yourself throughout each day. Every time you “count” a meal, you are subtracting that number from what you’ve been told your total for the day can be. Each passing meal, snack, or beverage becomes something that you dread and in the end the joy of eating is taken away. At that point, you probably give up on counting calories.

Now, if you are tracking calories, you are simply keeping track of what you eat. As the days go by, you come to realize, based on the data you’ve collected, just how much you are eating. You may find that some days you eat more, others you don’t, but eventually, you get to a point where simply start to make better choices because you know what’s in the food you are taking in. If tracking the calories themselves seems too time consuming (though there are apps for that) take one step back and simply keep a food diary.

The concept of tracking calories or keeping a food diary isn’t about worrying and wringing your hands over every meal or snack, but rather to give you a picture of what your habits are – which then allows you to visualize making changes for the better. As you make those changes, the proof is right there in front of you in both your notebook (or smartphone) in black and white, on the scale and in the mirror.

10 Responses

Love this! I give the same advice to people who ask me “what to do.” Calorie “counting” is pretty pointless anyway, since most calorie information is pretty error-ridden anyway — just try weighing some packaged food some time and you’ll see that a lot of the time the weight on the wrapper or box isn’t even close to the weight of the actual item, meaning you think you’re consuming X number of cals and you’re really consuming Y! But calorie/food tracking is such a useful tool! You discover your habits, your weaknesses, what makes you feel energized and what fuels your workouts or days the best and the least. Getting into a war with all of the numbers is a sure-fire way to failure and giving up, but getting a better visual of what you’re doing can only help you succeed.

It’s all about the differential. Go ahead and enjoy two cookies if you’ve balanced that out (and then some) with your morning run. As you point out, it’s more about being mindful of your habits than it is about “counting”. Nice post!

Janice – the one that I find easiest to use (despite being called calorie counter) is the Livestrong App…it has an incredibly large library of foods already programmed into it – however, one can use an old fashioned notebook or note taking app (or even calendar) as well.

Thanks Luau, that’s true it can be done the old fashioned way but I love to have my iphone do all the work for me!! So I love apps!! I have been using one called Lose It which works well but sometimes my foods are hard to find on it. I’ll check out the Livestrong app!
THANKS……….I am enjoying following both you and your wife so much!
Janice from GA

Thanks for the mention and great post – I find the discipline of tracking calories makes me avoid picking up the tiddling little stupid snacks that are a pain in the ass to have to record – like my son’s leftovers, a handful of skittles, the late-night Oreo. Just avoiding that stuff goes a long way towards keeping things under control – so long as running is involved, of course.

Great post bro. My nutritionist (Nancy Clark – who happens to be right down the street from you in chestnut hill), has told me that studies have shown that there are 5 habits people have who have lost weight and kept it off for more than a year (in no particular order of importance) 1) Getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night (seriously), 2) Keeping a food diary, 3) Weighing themselves regularly – at least weekly, 4) regular exercise and last but not least 5) I cant remember – sorry! So I agree a food diary is HUGE! Just makes you more aware and that is nothing but helpful.

I’m trying new foods, and thinking hard about what my diet used to be like. For these two weeks, I’ve replaced breakfst porridge with eggs or fish, and chicken wraps with very tasty meat,cheese and egg salad. In the past I’ve replaced diet coke with water, candy with fruit, and microwave meals with home cooked foods.

Now 9 days into this 2 week food test, I’m training and including things like milk and fruit (not on the list), but I know they’re healthy. I think sometimes it’s just a case of looking at your diet, evaluating it and improving it. That’s what I’m going to do. And it’s not that hard.

I think sometimes we tend to be in a habit of eating the same things. We choose the same foods all the time, sometimes they’re bad choices, sometimes they’re good – but the two week food test has really got me thinking about what goes in. (I can’t ‘count’ calories!!)